1) The document discusses research into using ultrasonic vibration to improve the micro-extrusion process for manufacturing micro-parts.
2) An analytical model was developed to understand how ultrasonic oscillations influence temperature distribution at the tool-workpiece interface during micro-extrusion. The model predicted a maximum temperature of 750°C.
3) Experiments were conducted using tooling designed to induce 20kHz ultrasonic vibrations during three types of micro-extrusion processes. Results showed up to a 25% reduction in forming load and improved surface finish when using ultrasonic vibrations.
1) The document discusses research into using ultrasonic vibration to improve the micro-extrusion process for manufacturing micro-parts.
2) An analytical model was developed to understand how ultrasonic oscillations influence temperature distribution at the tool-workpiece interface during micro-extrusion. The model predicted a maximum temperature of 750°C.
3) Experiments were conducted using tooling designed to induce 20kHz ultrasonic vibrations during three types of micro-extrusion processes. Results showed up to a 25% reduction in forming load and improved surface finish when using ultrasonic vibrations.
1) The document discusses research into using ultrasonic vibration to improve the micro-extrusion process for manufacturing micro-parts.
2) An analytical model was developed to understand how ultrasonic oscillations influence temperature distribution at the tool-workpiece interface during micro-extrusion. The model predicted a maximum temperature of 750°C.
3) Experiments were conducted using tooling designed to induce 20kHz ultrasonic vibrations during three types of micro-extrusion processes. Results showed up to a 25% reduction in forming load and improved surface finish when using ultrasonic vibrations.
1) The document discusses research into using ultrasonic vibration to improve the micro-extrusion process for manufacturing micro-parts.
2) An analytical model was developed to understand how ultrasonic oscillations influence temperature distribution at the tool-workpiece interface during micro-extrusion. The model predicted a maximum temperature of 750°C.
3) Experiments were conducted using tooling designed to induce 20kHz ultrasonic vibrations during three types of micro-extrusion processes. Results showed up to a 25% reduction in forming load and improved surface finish when using ultrasonic vibrations.
Influence of Ultrasonic Vibration on Micro-extrusion
Cristina Bunget, PhD student
cjbunget@ncsu.edu Advisor: Dr. Gracious Ngaile Research area: Structural Mechanics and Materials
The emerging trend of miniaturization of a wide variety of mechanical devices and systems has resulted in high demand for micro-parts for applications in fields such as electronics, communication, biotechnology, medicine, optics, and environmental monitoring. Micro-forming is one of the miniaturization technologies with great potential for high production rates, due to minimum or zero material loss, and excellent mechanical properties. Despite the advantages of micro-forming, full utilization of this process has not been realized. This is because the development of robust micro-forming processes is still in its infancy. At present, however, there are numerous technical challenges that need to be addressed before micro-forming become a commercially viable manufacturing process. These challenges includes, severe tribological conditions caused by higher surface-to-volume ratio, difficulty in achieving desired tolerances, impracticality of using conventional metal forming lubricants as the film-thickness of these types of lubricants reaches the order of part tolerances or part size features, and forces exerted on miniature dies and punches can exceed the capacity of available die materials leading to short tool life. Some of the above mentioned problems can be mitigated by the use of ultrasonic micro- forming processes. Although the technology of ultrasonic forming is already used at macro-scale and some benefits have been realized such as the reduction in the forming forces and reduction of the friction between the die and the workpiece, the mechanism that explain these benefits are not yet understood. The principal objectives of this work were to develop an analytical model to determine the influence of the ultrasonic oscillations on the micro-extrusion processes, to design a set of tooling capable to superimpose the oscillations on the microforming and to observe through experiments the influence of the ultrasonic oscillations on the micro-extrusion processes. In order to gain better understanding of the influence of the ultrasonic oscillations on the micro- extrusion, an analytical model was developed. The model proposed assumes that asperities will be elastically and plastically deformed by ultrasonic oscillations. In the cause of oscillation heat will be generated due to plastic deformation and sliding friction at the tool-workpiece interface. The developed model was used to predict temperature induced during deformation for forward micro-extrusion processes. Figure 1a shows the zones at the tool/workpiece interface, each zone being characterized by different conditions that contribute to the increase in the temperature. A maximum temperature of 750 C was predicted [Figure 1b], which agrees well with previous experimental observation. In order to verify the benefits of the ultrasonic oscillations on microforming, a set of tooling capable of inducing ultrasonic vibrations at a frequency of 20 kHz was designed and built. Finite element method was used to assist the design. Static, modal and harmonic analyses were conducted [Figure 2a]. Also a parametric analysis was conducted, in order to optimize the tooling for the experiments. After building the tooling, micro-extrusion experiments were carried out for three different extrusion processes: backward-cup micro-extrusion, forward-rod micro- extrusion, and double-cup micro-extrusion [Figure 2b]. Aluminum billets of different sizes and three lubricants were used in the study. The forming load and the surface finish after deformation were the two aspects considered. The forming load was recorded for each sample [Figure 2c]. The surfaces of micro-extruded parts were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS).
(a) (b) Figure 1: (a) Zones at the tool/workpiece interface; (b) The temperature distribution predicted using the analytical model. All the test results showed a significant drop on the forming load when ultrasonic vibrations were imposed. The forming load decreased by 25% for double-cup micro-extrusions, 20% for forward-rod micro-extrusions, and 10% for forward-rod-backward-cup micro-extrusions. The reduction depends on the type of process and on the lubricant composition.
(a)
(b)
(c) Figure 2: (a) Finite element model and resonance plot; (b) Tooling set-up; (c) Influence of the ultrasonic vibrations on the forming load. The study also revealed that with ultrasonic vibrations the surface of the micro-formed parts can be improved significantly. Lubricant chemical element distributions on the surfaces of the parts that were ultrasonic-micro-extruded were different from parts that were not. This implies that ultrasonic vibrations enhanced tribological performance, hence reducing the frictional load and galling. Based on the preliminary test results, the study demonstrated that there is high potential for using ultrasonic oscillations as a way to overcome the difficulties brought by the miniaturization.
